The PGA Tour Handout That Made the Difference

The 2024 FedEx Cup Fall has officially wrapped. Maverick McNealy, who finished with a clutch closing birdie to clip the field by one stroke, notched his first career win on the PGA Tour at the RSM Classic, the fall finale. McNealy, an active member of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council, has established a reputation as a bright mind in the game, most recently pushing through a modification to the FedEx Cup points system based on his own research.

With a breakthrough win capping off a solid season, McNealy is strengthening his reputation as a player, too. The 29-year-old, who missed a few months of competitive action back in 2023 with a shoulder injury, enters the 2025 season healthy with a spot locked up in the season’s first three Signature Events and the Masters. To take the next step with his game, he’ll need to improve his iron play closer to the level of his short game, which is likely a priority of his during the short offseason.

McNealy may have finished atop the leaderboard in Sea Island, but surely Daniel Berger (T-2) and Henrik Norlander (T-17), the only two players to jump inside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings from outside, feel like winners as well. A top-125 finish secures full status on the PGA Tour next season, making that threshold especially important.

Berger, in particular, is an intriguing name to monitor into next season. With four PGA Tour wins, appearances in both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, and four top 10s in major championships, the 31-year-old has a proven pedigree. In October 2020, he was ranked as high as 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Berger had been on an upward trajectory until a back injury derailed his career, forcing him to miss most of 2022 and all of 2023. For much of 2024, Berger showed flashes but played inconsistently, an understandable outcome as he shakes off rust. Assuming he can stay healthy, Berger is poised for a resurgence in 2025. Asked for his perspective on recent changes to the Tour, Berger responded, “…it doesn’t really concern me because when I play 1/10th of what I’m capable of, I’m at a level that’s — it’s going to sound terrible, but I think I’m just at a different level than some of the other guys I’m competing against.” Well, then! No shortage of confidence there. If you had to choose a player who could make the biggest leap in performance between 2024 and 2025, Berger wouldn’t be a bad pick.

Elsewhere in RSM Classic news, a scenario I previously outlined ahead of the Zozo Championship came to fruition on Sunday. Joel Dahmen, who earned 13 FedEx Cup points as a sponsor exemption at the Zozo – the only no-cut event of the fall swing – fired an impressive final-round 64 (-6) to finish the FedEx Cup Fall 124th in the standings. The 13 points earned in Japan proved pivotal; the margin between Dahmen and 127th-place finisher Hayden Springer was just 10 points. While it’s impossible to conclude anything definitively, the points earned in Japan could easily have been the difference between Dahmen and a different golfer having status on the Tour next year. Zac Blair, who finished 126th in the standings, also received a sponsor exemption at the Zozo, so the points Dahmen earned in Japan didn’t exactly come at his expense.

Screenshot of FedEx Cup standings.

Sponsors are an important part of the PGA Tour’s business model, but satisfying sponsors by empowering them to handpick a few participants to compete in official tournaments is a Tour practice worthy of scrutiny. It’s hardly meritocratic for players’ statuses on Tour to be determined by how often they’re handpicked by tournament organizers to tee it up. If Hayden Springer is aggrieved at the way this unfolded, I wouldn’t blame him. I know, “Play better.” But you can’t play better unless you’re in the field.

Regardless, Dahmen isn’t to blame for how the Tour operates. Hats off to him for a gutsy final-round performance to secure full status next year.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.